Watch & Jewellery Segments
Jérôme Pernici, Marketing Director at Patek Philippe, said: "We were able to work particularly well here: it was an excellent year. We achieved record figures in terms of both buyer and media contacts."
Co-President of Chopard Karl-Friedrich Scheufele said “Baselworld …. is, and will remain, a focal point of every financial year for us and makes a key contribution to our sales result. We are highly satisfied with the sales we achieved and the customer frequency."
Tag-Heur’s Vice President Communication Françoise Bezzola, reported double digit growth for his company’s performance over last year.
Amongst the jewellery exhibitors, Christoph Wellendorff, Managing Director of Wellendorff, was particularly expressive at the excellent performance of his company. The show he said had exceeded their expectations.
On the back of their success last year, “Baselworld 2011 has opened up new options and opportunities for us in the Southeast Asian market in particular “ commented Giuseppe Picchiotti, owner of Picchiotti.
Managing Director, Christian Kurtzke of first time participants Meissen Joaillerie said "Baselworld offers us the best platform for opening up the markets of the future, such as Latin America. We have been able to engage in outstanding talks and are particularly impressed by the media presence here."
Loose Stones Segment
On the loose stones front, in the coloured gemstone segment, emeralds and semi-precious received satisfying response. After the high of the Homg Kong fair, loose diamond dealers were a little disappointed at the just about average response. However, Basel is not a show traditionally known for loose stones – it is essentially a watches and jewellery show, with the latter taking a second seat to the former.
Vishal Mehta of Dimexon said that large goods clean to SI all moved well. “There are changes in consumer habits,” Mehta pointed out. “The consumer is opting for better quality products which further drives the demand.” Dimexon mainly concentrates on Europe and Asian markets, and at Baselworld its target audience are european buyers, particularly the watch industry which constitutes a big segment of its business.
The strengthening of the luxury watch sector, and the trend for using diamonds in watches, which also represents value addition for watchmakers has led to the increase in the offtake of loose diamonds by the Swiss watch industry, which is consuming large volumes.
Avrahm Eshed of Eshed Diam opined that the atmosphere in the industry has changed a lot. “There is more confidence in business now,” he opined, however noting the lack of the kind of excitement at Hong Kong. “Here at Basel we miss the action like Hong Kong. In Basel the buyers are mainly European, Russian, and American. However, the visitors are the are serious buyers. Prices are almost 30%-40% up and they are almost at peak levels now.” Eshed said the future depends on the situation in the world in coming years. “I think we are moving towards the positive side and the future will be better. India and China will be the driving force”, he said.